1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a bus bar module which seals a part of a bus bar with a sealing member made of resin.
2. Related Art
Bus bar modules are known which are electrically connected to semiconductor modules incorporating a semiconductor element. As shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, one of the bus bar modules includes a bus bar 93 made of a metal plate, and a sealing member 910 made of resin which seals a part of the bus bar 93 (refer to JP-A-2009-65783).
Welded parts 940 to be welded to power terminals 920 of the semiconductor modules 92 are formed on the end faces of the bus bar 93. The welded parts 940 are made flush with the end faces of the power terminals 920, and the bus bar 93 and the power terminals 920 are made to overlap each other. Then, TIG welding or the like is performed to weld the bus bar 93 and the power terminals 920 to each other. Thereby, the bus bar 93 and the power terminals 920 are electrically connected to each other.
In addition, a bus bar module 90 has a plurality of bus bars 93, which are not shown. The bus bar module 90 is configured by sealing the plurality of bus bars 93 with the sealing member 910 to integrate the bus bars 93 with each other. A part of the bus bar 93 configures a sealed part 950 sealed by the sealing member 910.
However, in the above bus bar module 90, since the heat-transfer distance from the welded part 940 to the sealed part 950 is relatively short, heat generated on welding is easily transferred from the welded part 940 to the sealed part 950. As a result, the sealing member 910 easily melts.
To solve this problem, as shown in FIG. 21, a configuration is proposed in which a notch 99 is provided between the welded part 940 and the sealed part 950. According to this configuration, the strength of the bus bar 93 decreases at the portion where the notch 99 is formed.